Albania has many fascinating archaeological sites to explore.

Apollonia was an important  Illyrian city with a school of philosophy in the the fourth century AD.

Apollonia

Now it is mostly buried over two hill tops and surrounded by olive trees. When an earthquake caused its harbour to silt up it declined and was forgotten. But it was rediscovered and partly excavated in the nineteenth century.  A good start to our exploration of Albania.

Apollonia Museum Displays

Butrint

Butrint is near the Greek border and is the largest archaeological site in the Balkans. It was  inhabited from  pre-historic times until the middle ages so the ruins are from different eras. There is a lot to see and the scenery is fabulous. With sunshine as we walked round this was our favourite place.

Saint Nicholas Monastery Church

A quick stop at mesopotam church . Dedicated to saint Nicholas it was built on the ruins of a pagan temple in the thirteenth century. It has a double apse making in unique and  is also known for its fabulous dragon icons.

Bylis

 

This ancient city is on a hill and was probably founded by Greek settlers. It was surrounded by walls and had a large theatre with its  remains still visible. It was hard to find out much about the history of this place but it was very beautiful with wildflowers and views down into the valley.

All these places were peaceful with very few tourists but guides to point out the highlights for you. There are huge numbers of wildflowers everywhere and we even found goatherds sitting in the outer ruins. This made  for a  lovely experience and its a shame more tourists don’t visit. But then I guess that would spoil it!